Associate of Manchester synagogue attacker pleads guilty to helping him perform reconnaissance on UK Defence Academy

An associate of the Manchester synagogue killer has pleaded guilty to taking the terrorist on an expedition to the UK Defense Academy two months before he launched a vehicular and knife attack.

Mohammed Asim Bashir, 31, a delivery driver from Cheetham Hill, Manchester, was accused of helping to radicalize Jihad al-Shamie and helping him carry out acts of terrorism by leading him on a hostile expedition on August 14 last year.

Despite having no insurance, he used al-Shamie’s car on a ten-hour round trip from Manchester, and the pair spent 13 minutes at the Defense Academy site in Oxfordshire before returning.

Wearing gray prison tracksuits and a large beard, he appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey and spoke only in his defence.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay KC told the hearing that the charges had been amended to include intent to ‘commit a terrorist act on his own or to assist Jihad al-Shamie’.

Jihad al-Shamie, 35, a Syrian-born British national, drove his black Kia Picanto into a security guard outside Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, on October 2 last year and then stabbed Melvin Cravitz, 66, to death.

Al-Shamie, from Prestwich, Manchester, was wearing a fake suicide vest and was shot dead by armed police as worshipers barricaded themselves inside the synagogue.

Adrian Daulby, 53, who was among those who stopped the attacker from entering, was killed by a stray bullet.

Mohammed Asim Bashir (pictured), 31, made the ten-hour round trip from Manchester in al-Shamie’s car despite having no insurance, and the pair spent 13 minutes at the Defense Academy site in Oxfordshire before returning.

Bashir, who is a dual British and Pakistani citizen, left the country for Pakistan with his family two days after the attack and was arrested at Manchester Airport before returning on 27 November.

ANPR and financial data showed Bashir attended the UK Defense Academy from Manchester.

Prosecutor Sally-Anne Russell told an earlier hearing that the hostile reconnaissance was carried out ‘with the aim of carrying out a terrorist attack similar to the one seven weeks later’.

Bashir “holds extreme Islamic ideology and believes that violence is justified and necessary for this purpose,” he added.

‘He attempted to radicalize other individuals, including Al-Shamie.’

The court heard Al-Shamie and Bashir became friends when they met at a mosque two years ago.

Bashir had changed his phone and deleted all data, but some data had been seized from a phone during an arrest months earlier, indicating that he shared the same mentality as Al Shami.

“We see from the interviews that both men have an extreme Islamic mindset and both are considering going to Syria to commit acts of terrorism,” Ms Russell said.

Al-Shamie had founded a Whatsapp group called ‘Rising to the Ranks of the Elite’ with twelve participants on September 7, 2024, a year before the attack.

Synagogue attacker Jihad Al-Shamie (pictured) died in the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue

Court artist’s drawing of Mohammed Bashir on display at the Old Bailey in London

Bashir shared three videos in which Al Qaeda ideologue Anwar Al Awlaki encourages those in the West to stop making excuses and commit terrorist acts.

“It is clear that Awlaki was in the spotlight for al-Shamie before the Manchester attack and demonstrates the real-world consequences of sharing such information online,” Ms Russell said.

Between November 2024 and January 2025, al-Shamie and Bashir exchanged voice notes discussing their desire to travel to Syria to inflict ‘serious damage’ and fight for the mujahideen.

Al-Shamie stated that he was ‘tired of this life and this city’.

On November 18, 2024, the two discussed setting up a gym for themselves, with al-Shamie saying they needed to get stronger and be ‘battle ready’.

Bashir said: ‘Amen, I will handle this matter. Then I’ll scrap the biggest Jews.’

Deciding to launch an attack in the UK, al-Shamie searched on Google for ‘worst Islamic terrorist attacks in the UK’ and ‘reconnaissance’ in the days before heading to the UK Defense Academy.

Bashir was also accused of disseminating terrorism-related publications in his WhatsApp messaging chat: a series of lectures called ‘The Book of Jihad’ and further videos called ‘Obstacles on the Path of Jihad’ and ‘The Virtues of the Martyrs’ in November and December last year.

These are all the speeches of Awlaki, who was killed in a US drone attack in Yemen, and the accusations are expected to be included in the file.

Bashir will be sentenced in July.